Net



July 16, 1935.

F. s. BARTLETT 2,008y123 NET Filed July 2, 1932 f f l l l a l Patented July 16, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in a net used for various games such as tennis,

squash, badminton and the like and will be described in detail as a tennis net without however 5 limiting the scope of the invention to that particular use. A tennis net, according to the present practice, usually comprises a heavy wire cable secured at the ends to posts fixed at opposite sides of a court, a rope to which the net proper,

l hereafter referred to as fabric, is lashed and a binding tape permanently secured to the rope or fabric and to the cable. The tape acts to close the space between the cable and the rope, to support the rope and fabric from the cable, and in- 15 cidentally to provide a continuous Vband which clearly denes the upper edgel of the net.

The binding tape in a net of the type above described must not only take the strain of support-I ing the net but also thatof resisting the impact of the balls against the net. The tape has, heretofore, been permanently secured in place, and accordingly when it wears out, as it must, due to the strains and the blows it receives'during the games, it is necessary to replacethe entire net. 25 One object of the present invention is to pro-l vide a support for the fabric and rope from the` cable independent of the binding tape so that the strains due to the weight of the fabric and the impacts of the balls are transmitted directly 30 to the cable and the binding tape is relievedV therefrom. A further object of the invention is to provide a binding tape which can be readily removed and replaced in case it becomes worn or dirty without interferingr in any way with the support of the fabric from the cable.

Other objects will appear from the following description of the invention taken in connection with the drawing which forms a part thereof, and in which;

Fig. l is an elevation View illustrating a typical mounting of a tennis net across the court;

Fig. 2 is an-enlarged view of a portion of the net illustrating the manner in which the rope and the fabric are supported from the cable;

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 illustrating the net in its final form after the binding tape has been applied and secured in place; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

The tennis net Iii shown in Fig. 1 extends between and is supported by posts Il. The net comprises a wire cable l5 secured to the posts in any suitable manner as by the provision of windlasses I6 by which the proper tension may beapplied to the cable, a rope i1 to which is secured,

the fabric I8 in any suitable way, as for example by means of the cord I9. The side walls of the mesh fabric are preferably secured at their edges by hooks 20 on the posts Il. The fabric i8 is directly supported from the wire cable I5 5 by a plurality of clips 22 which, as shown in Fig.

4, are looped around the cable l5 and around the rope l1. The space between the cable I5 and rope Il is covered by a binding tape 25 folded over the cable and secured in place by any suitl0 able means, as for example by the lacing 25 which passes through a plurality of eyelets 21 formed at the lower edges of the binding tape and through the meshes of the fabric I8.

From the above description it will be noted that the fabric i8 of the net is directly supported by the clips 22 from the cable i5 which, as in the former type of net, takes all the weight of the fabric and also the strains due to the impact of the balls which hit the net and that the binding tape Li is merely folded over the cable l5 and is removably secured to the fabric I8 by the lacing 2S so that it can be removed therefrom at any time without diliiculty and without disturbing the relation of the fabric and cable. It will also be 25 noted that theV clips are slidable along the cable so that they do not interfere with the mounting of the fabric.

The essence of this invention is the means for supporting the net fabric from the cable and the provision of a removable binding tape which has no fabric supporting function. While one embodiment and use of this invention has been shown and described in detail it will b-e understood that I am not limited thereto and that other embodiments and uses may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A tennis net comprising a cable securedat its ends to posts and adapted to be placed under tension, a mesh fabric, a rope secured to the upper edge of the fabric, means attaching the fabric to the posts independent of said cable, fabric supporting means connecting said cable and rope and comprising a plurality of clips each supported at one end on said cable and slidable thereover, and clamped at the other end to said rope and a tape folded over said cable and laced along its edges to the fabric, said fabric being supported independently of said tape.

2. The combination with a fabric net of means for mounting the sam-e comprising a wire cable and clips carried by said cable and engagingthe upper edge of the fabric vand a removable tape covering said cable and the upper edge of the fabric and independent of said clips.

3. The combination with a fabric net of means for mounting the same comprising a wire cable.

and clips carried by said cable and engaging the upper edge of the fabric, a removable tape cover ing said cable and the upper edge of the `fabric and independent of said clips and Vmeans for positioning the tape relative to the fabric. 

